THE NEW TEEN TITANS #35 & #36

"SIEGE!" | "FEEDBACK!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Layout Artist: Keith Pollard
Embellisher: Romeo Tanghal | Letterers: John Costanza & Todd Klein (#36 assist)
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Sarah Simms' ex-boyfriend, Mark, accosts her on the street. When a police officer attempts to break it up, Mark grabs the cop's gun and escapes with Sarah into a nearby store. As police surround the building, Sarah manages to contact Titans' Tower. Cyborg, Raven, and Changeling respond immediately. After Cyborg is shot in the shoulder, Changeling infiltrates the building but is unable to reason with Mark. Raven next enters and begins to negotiate as Cyborg tries a new route through the roof. In the end Mark surrenders after Raven and Cyborg talk him down.

My Thoughts: Geez; George Pérez must've been under a deadline crunch or something! THE NEW TEEN TITANS has skipped a month, jumping from August to October. In my experience, this sort of thing was unheard of in the eighties -- at least at Marvel. I would assume it was similar for DC. Anyway, now we have a fill-in artist for two installments, leading me to the above assumption that Pérez was responsible for the delay.

Anyway -- when Mark popped up, he appeared to be Cyborg's romantic rival for Sarah. Now it turns out he was just an extremely unstable guy with abandonment issues. I wouldn't have minded if there'd been more to him than met the eye, but not this. The issue feels like a sub-par episode of a prime-time cop show, rather than another soap operatic issue of THE NEW TEEN TITANS. And with this plotline now complete, it seems painfully clear that Mark was little more than a wrench created by Wolfman and Pérez to artificially delay the Cyborg/Sarah relationship.

STARTING MARVEL OVER

So it seems that following this year's "Secret Wars" event, the Marvel Universe is going to be somewhat rebooted, with the Ultimate continuity integrating into the existing Marvel backstory. I don't know how they're going to do it and really, I'm not all that interested. But the idea got me thinking, as I'm sure we all have from time to time, about what I would do if I had complete control over the Marvel Universe. If I could just blow everything up and start it all over again, what would the landscape look like? What titles would be published and which would get the axe?

Now remember, this is my fantasy; a magical world where profits, sales quotas, and corporate overlords don't matter. It is, simply, my idea of an ideal Marvel publishing schedule for me, and it's naturally based strongly on my own nostalgia, which is a weird mish-mash of eighties and nineties Marvel with some minor aspects of the sixties, seventies, and modern day.

If I rebooted the Marvel Universe, my premise would be fairly simple: the Silver Age and much of the Bronze Age happened pretty much exactly as we all remember. It is now, in Marvel Time, about eight to ten years since the first superheroes, the Fantastic Four, debuted.

MOON KNIGHT: THE GUEST APPEARANCES

The MARVEL SPOTLIGHT stories were published in 1976. The HULK! magazine stories, which we’ll begin to cover next time, came out in 1978. But from 1977 – 1979, Moon Knight had a handful of appearances in other series, chronicled by writers other than his creator, Doug Moench. In a nutshell, these are those tales:

DEFENDERS #47 - 50
“NIGHT MOVES!” | “SINISTER SAVIOR!” | “RAMPAGE”
“SCORPIO MUST DIE!” | “A ROUND WITH THE RINGER!” (excerpt)
Writer: David Kraft | Penciler: Keith Giffen | Editor: Archie Goodwin

Co-Plot: Roger Slifer (#47) | Script: John Warner (#47)
Inks: Klaus Janson (#47 & 51), Dan Green (#48), Mike Royer (#49),
Keith Giffen w/Mike Royer, John Tartaglione, & Dave Cockrum (#50)
Letters: John Costanza (#47 & 50), Annette Kawecki (#48),
Irving Watanabe & Mike Royer (#49), Bruce Patterson (#51)
Colors: David Kraft (#48-49), Don Warfield (#50), Phil Rache (#51)

The Plot: Moon Knight becomes involved with the Defenders as they attempt to rescue their friend, Jack Norriss, from the clutches of the villainous Scorpio.

My Thoughts: I haven't read much by David Kraft, but I have at least read his run on the original SAVAGE SHE-HULK series. These issues read nothing like SHE-HULK, so I'm guessing that perhaps Kraft is emulating the style of previous DEFENDERS writers here (I've never read any of DEFENDERS outside of these five issues). The story is dark, the script is ponderous and the dialogue is occasionally unnatural. The characters, good and bad alike, all seem very disenfranchised with the world and even depressed and generally unhappy. This isn't typical Marvel "soap opera"-style angst -- it's the adventures of a bunch of mopey sad sacks. These are not fun comics, and I doubt I'll ever read them again.

(Also, what's with all the weird references to beer strewn throughout these issues?)

Artistically, Keith Giffen performs an acceptable Jack Kirby impression, but his work looks best when inked by Klaus Janson in a more traditional style. Also, Giffen seems to have misinterpreted Moon Knight’s ability to glide on his cape as the power of flight, showing him zooming around an enclosed room alongside Nighthawk several times.

THE NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2

"THE MURDER MACHINE"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artists: George Pérez & Pablo Marcos
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

Note: This issue does not have credits in THE NEW TEEN TITANS OMNIBUS volume 2. The above credits are pulled from the DC wiki.

The Plot: D.A. Chase and his family are rushed to the hospital, but Chase's wife and children perish. Robin vows to get Anthony Scarapelli for the murders. Meanwhile, Scarapelli finds himself on the outs with the mob's Donna Omicidio due to the public nature of his assassination attempt. Scarapelli requests aid from a criminal "referral agent" called the Monitor.

Robin finds himself handcuffed by a restraining order from Scarapelli after his invasion of the mobster's home, so the rest of the Titans rough up Scarapelli's various illegitimate enterprises. The Monitor sends a group of assassins to lure the Titans into a trap, but the heroes escape. During the skirmish, two of the assassins are killed by a mysterious figure. Kid Flash is injured, but Raven -- who had been away from the Titans for much of the recent action -- returns to heal him.

Soon after, Scarapelli heads to a meeting with Donna Omicidio, but sends a group of battle suited warriors to kill her. While the Titans fight these troops, Scarapelli escapes to his home. But he's cornered by a costumed man calling himself the Vigilante. Vigilante has Scarapelli at his mercy and unmasks himself as D.A. Chase. Robin appears to talk Chase out of murdering Scarapelli, but when Scarapelli pulls a gun on the pair, Chase kills him and escapes.

THE NEW TEEN TITANS #34

"ENDINGS...AND BEGINNINGS!"
Co-Creators: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Embellisher: Romeo Tanghal
Letterer: Todd Klein | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

Note: This issue does not have credits in THE NEW TEEN TITANS OMNIBUS volume 2. The above credits are pulled from the DC wiki.

The Plot: At his apartment in Manhattan, Deathstroke discusses his next plan with his manservant, Wintergreen. Meanwhile, the Titans throw a sixteenth birthday party for Terra. She believes she has proved herself to them and asks why they don't trust her with their identities and other secrets. As Wonder Girl leaves to go see Terry, Kid Flash informs her that he plans to quit the Titans.

Meanwhile, Robin and D.A. Chase fight through Anthony Scarapelli's men and arrest Scarapelli on a warrant for possession of illegal firearms. Elsewhere, Deathstroke kidnaps a stockbroker while Wonder Girl accepts Terry's proposal, but asks for time to learn about her past before the wedding. Sarah Simms calls Titans' Tower for Cyborg, but he has no interest in talking to her. At her apartment, she kicks her "fiancé" Mark out, as she called off their engagement a year before but he won't let her go.

Deathstroke calls Titans' Tower and tells Changeling to surrender the Titans to him or he will kill the broker. But Terra knocks Changeling out and goes to face Deathstroke on her own in Manhattan. The Titans follow and in the end, it is Terra who gets the better of Deathstroke. But the villain apparently blows himself up rather than be captured. In the aftermath of the fight, the Titans officially welcome Terra as a worthy member.

Later, Terra goes to the tenament where she had been held by terrorists and meets Deathstroke. The entire fight was part of his plan to plant her among the Titans as a mole. Meanwhile, Robin argues with Chase over his obsessive methods and leaves in a huff. But as he prepares to drive away, he sees a bomb detonate far above in Chase's apartment.

STAR WARS: THE MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1

No "Unboxing" for March. For the first month in a long while (like, years), I received nothing new in the mail! So instead, let's take an in-depth look at a book I received last month: Marvel's STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1.

I've never read Marvel's STAR WARS series, but I've wanted to check it out for years. I missed Dark Horse's original trade paperbacks, as they came out long before I became a collected editions fiend. Dark Horse later did their own "Omnibus" versions of the series in a group of five volumes, and I considered picking them up many times, but I could never bring myself to do it since they were printed in a little tiny trim size smaller than the original comic book dimensions. I never understand this. I know many comic book readers have fond memories of digests from their younger days, but I've never been on board with that format. Even as a kid I thought it was silly to shrink a comic book down to a smaller size. The art becomes tiny and cramped-looking and the letters are harder to read. I'll go a little bit smaller than the original dimensions, say for reading a comic on my iPad -- which I love -- but anything beyond that is a non-starter for me.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #28 & #29

”THE CRUSHING OF CONQUER-LORD!” | “THE DEADLY GAMBIT OF CONQUER-LORD!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Don Perlin
Letterers: Irving Watanabe (#28) & Debra James (#29) | Colorist: Irene Vartanoff
Editor: Marv Wolfman

The Plot: (issue 28) Moon Knight thwarts a break-in in Manhattan, unaware that the thieves are a group of corrupt police working to frame the mayor for a man named Mr. Quinn, a.k.a. Conquer-Lord. A pair of cops find their defeated fellows and, unaware of their dishonest proclivities, believe Moon Knight has turned against the police.

After a run-in with the honest cops, Moon Knight begins to investigate the break-in further and learns that Quinn is looking to install his own puppet mayor via the upcoming election. Moon Knight changes to his secret identity of millionaire Steven Grant and, with his secretary Marlene, heads to a ball at the mayor’s mansion. But Conquer-Lord shows up as well. Grant changes to Moon Knight, but the villain uses Marlene as a hostage and escapes. Seconds later, a servant announces that the mayor has been shot.

(issue 29) Medics arrive to tend to the mayor, who was tagged by a stray bullet when Moon Knight thwarted Conquer-Lord’s assassination attempt. Frenchie flies Moon Knight back to Steven Grant’s mansion, where Grant finds his new valet, Merkins, spying on him for Conquer-Lord. Grant allows Merkins to escape, then follows him to Conquer-Lord’s hideout, where the villain has Marlene in a death trap. Moon Knight enters the building, takes out Conquer-Lord’s men, and defeats the villain himself, rescuing Marlene.